The present disclosure generally relates to haptics. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to a haptic interface and control system.
Touchscreens have become ubiquitous for computer interface, and are used in mobile phones, tablets, laptop computers, bank kiosks, and many other applications and devices. Touchscreens are able to detect the location of a user's finger in contact with the screen. The detected location then can be used by a computer program to respond to the user's command as expressed by his or her touch, such as to move a graphical object that is visible on the screen or to select a button or menu item.
Usually the touch sensitive screen is transparent and is combined with a visual display so that the user may imagine that he or she is touching or pointing to the objects that are visually portrayed. There are two flows of information involved: visual information from a computer to the user, and touch information from the user to a computer.
Less common is the other direction of conveyance of touch information, in which the user can employ his or her sense of touch to receive information from a computer. This could support the user's perception of edges or textures, or even apparent bumps or depressions of the surface.
The facility to convey touch information to the user is called haptics. A contemporary form of haptics is accomplished by producing vibrations of a handheld device. A user may imagine the vibrations to be originating in his or her interaction with icons or other graphical features portrayed on a visual display. Going beyond vibrational haptics, the term surface haptic display refers to touchscreens in which forces can be generated by the screen and exerted on the user's fingertip at the point that it contacts the screen.